


The Warm Thrill of Confusion

by afropuffchan



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Multi, other pairings may appear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-06 08:02:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1850548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afropuffchan/pseuds/afropuffchan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Loki learns that there exists a human with the worth of an entire army, he decides to claim him in order to further his endeavor to conquer Midgard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

After the group under Loki's command escaped the destruction of the SHIELD facility where the Tesseract had been kept, Barton led them to an underground lair from which Loki could organize his plan of attack. The unearthly man leaned against the doorway with folded arms as he watched his new minions set up equipment in one of the rooms. The devices seemed primitive to him, but Loki supposed that they would suffice for his purposes. He huffed impatiently. If he was going to take control of this world, he needed to amass a larger army of capable subjects with loyalty only to him. Loki was no fool, and knew he could trust the Chitauri and their master only so far. And no doubt his brother- no, Odin's son, would arrive soon after Heimdall caught sight of him. Even with Loki's skills, he wouldn't be able to cloak himself and his group of human minions from the guardian of the Bifrost for long. And Odin was well aware of the dark magics used to navigate the way to other realms without the shattered Bifrost's power.

"There are far too few here to accomplish what lies ahead," Loki told the group finally as he stepped farther into the room. At the sound of his voice, all eyes turned toward his form, faces filled with rapt attention. Loki drew himself up to his full height, addressing the first of his subjects on Midgard. "Who among you knows of humans that will be of use in my service?" 

Barton stepped forward to speak. "SHIELD has made a lot of enemies over the years. I know of a few places to get people who would gladly side with you against them." 

Loki smiled at him. "Excellent Agent Barton. See to it at once." He watched the man salute before heading out of the room.

A smaller man wearing a long white coat approached a step before gazing up at Loki, reverence written across his face. "I'm aware of where you can get a man who is as valuable as dozens of men, maybe even an entire army, as well as other skilled soldiers and technicians."

Loki approached him, disbelief written across his face. "A human worth an entire army? Are you certain that you aren't referring to one of the men Barton told me about already in SHIELD's employ?"

"N-no, sir," the scientist stuttered. "This is someone who doesn't officially exist. The intelligence community even believes that he's just a story created to cover up the actions of a group of assassins, but in truth, it's just one man. He's belonged to HYDRA for seventy years, shaping the century on this world. The only reason I even know about him is because I helped work on him from time to time between my duties with SHIELD."

Loki's eyes took on an eager light as he stepped closer. "Where can I find this rare creature?"

"The place where he's kept is heavily guarded, so-"

"It isn't an issue for one with my power," Loki told the man as he loomed over him, gripping his staff that much tighter. "Tell me where. We'll leave at once."

 

While the scientists moved about the room within the secret HYDRA base in a nervous blur of activity, Alexander Pierce glared at the Asset, who was secured into the chair and struggling against his restraints. The bonds were supposed to be able to withstand the man's superhuman strength, but they creaked ominously as the Asset pulled against them. There was a wild and confused look in the glassy eyes that darted around the room as if searching for something. His chest heaved with his gasping breaths, and from what Pierce could understand from the monitoring equipment, his vital signs were off the charts.

"Why aren't you prepping him to be wiped?" Pierce asked, impatient.

The head scientist glanced over at him briefly before turning his eyes back to the hands that were filling a syringe with an amber liquid from an upturned bottle. "We can't when he's like this. It would be too dangerous. We could do permanent brain damage that would render him useless to HYDRA if we did."

Pierce stepped forward, hands on his hips. "Then get him back under control so we can proceed. I've got targets to be eliminated and the assassinations won't take care of themselves. We're at a critical point and-"

"I understand, Mr. Pierce," the scientist interrupted while trying to inject the Asset's right arm with the substance. The agitated man kept pulling against the bindings on his chest and arms as though he intended to lunge at the scientist. "We're doing our best to accomplish that-"

"You need to do better than this," Pierce answered, gesturing at the spectacle in front of him. "You were the one who assured me before he was returned to cryo a year and a half ago that your new cocktail would handle this kind of thing."

The scientist frowned at the man before turning to one of his assistants to ask for a different medication. Pierce gazed around in frustration, noting how the members of STRIKE, some of whom were on hand to contain the Asset if necessary, were shifting as though on edge.

When a red light in the corner of the room began to silently blink, flooding the area with an intermittent bloody hue, the tension in the room nearly reached its breaking point. The scientists gazed toward Pierce nervously. For his part, Pierce approached Rumlow, his face a mask of annoyed disbelief. "What is going on?" he asked the younger man, who was holding his earpiece as if attempting to hear what was being transmitted through it.

Rumlow frowned, meeting Pierce's gaze. "The building has been breached somehow. Williams said so just as I lost contact with him and the rest of the unit on the level above."

"Take some men and get up there," Pierce told him. "We can't afford any delays or interference. Whatever threat you find there, neutralize it."

"Right, sir," Rumlow answered before gesturing for Rollins and a half dozen others to follow him out of the room.

The group of men proceeded through the steel doorway. Rumlow instructed two of the guards outside to be on standby near the elevators in case someone tried to come down. He led his cadre of men up the stairs to the next level. Alert for any intruders, they prowled down the hallway upon exiting the stairwell, red lights bathing the corridors eerily. He motioned to Rollins to lead part of the group down one corridor as they arrived at an intersection, while he headed down the other with the three other men. Rumlow's heart pounded in his chest, his assault rifle a comfort in his hands as the adrenaline in his veins made him hyper-aware of his surroundings. There were so few who knew about this place within HYDRA that it was hard to imagine anyone who was a threat finding out its location or what was kept here.

Brock tried to keep his mind on the task at hand, carefully moving down an adjoining corridor. He turned over his shoulder to address his subordinates, but found empty air instead. Rumlow scanned the hallway behind him in alarm, but the men who had been following him had seemingly disappeared. Brock hadn't heard any retreating footsteps nor signs of altercation, so he was unnerved at how the men had vanished without his notice. He retraced his footsteps down the hallway, but there was no sight of the three men.

Suddenly, there was interference sounding through Rumlow's com before Rollins' alarmed voice came through it, shrouded in static. "Holy shit! Brock, get-" his friend managed to utter before the connection went dead.

"Rollins?" Brock murmured uneasily into his com as he pressed it to his ear. But his worried voice was met only with silence. Cursing, Rumlow quickly doubled back to where he'd separated from Rollins' group, struggling to calm his pounding heart. The fact that he wasn't met with any bodies along the way was a poor comfort. Rumlow was brought up short when he turned the next corner and caught sight of Rollins standing in the middle of the otherwise empty hallway, an odd light shining from behind his eyes. His weapon hung from his shoulder on its strap.

"Brock, you won't believe it," Rollins told him, his expression one of dazed awe as he raised a hand to extend it toward his friend. "I can't even describe it." The man beckoned to him. "Come and see."

Rumlow lowered his weapon, but only just. Something wasn't right. There was something bizarre about the whole situation. "Jack," he asked slowly as he cautiously approached, eying the empty corridor behind the man, "what's gotten into you? Where is everyone?"

"Your understanding is not required," said a lilting voice from behind him. Brock spun to see a tall, elegant man standing nearby in strange attire, a mix of supple black leather, golden metal, and green fabric. "Only your obedience."

Rumlow felt himself grabbed swiftly from behind by not one but three of his men. Where the hell had they appeared from? His weapon was tugged from his grip. "Get off me!" he told his teammates who had suddenly betrayed him, apparently for this stranger's sake.

"Don't fight it, Brock," Rollins murmured into his ear where he was pressed against Rumlow's struggling form. "Just let it happen. It hurts at first, but order can only come through pain, right?" He felt Rollins smile against his skin. "There's nothing you can do but submit. And then you'll be as free as the rest of us."

Rumlow eyed the sharp looking spear that the stranger held, the light within the blue crystal affixed to it squirming as if alive. He jerked uselessly in the grip of the three men. "Who are you?" Brock asked as the man stepped close to loom over him, his eyes glittering and sinister in the flickering light.

"Your king," Loki breathed as he pressed the tip of his staff to the brunet's chest, watching the change overtake him like an obliterating wave.

 

At the sight of the red light ceasing its ominous pulse into the room, Pierce stepped over to the intercom. "Rumlow, did you take care of it? Who was responsible? Rumlow?" Pierce frowned at the device as if it offended him when the only response he received was dead air.

All eyes in the room swiveled to the steel door when a muffled scream was heard from beyond it. The two guards left in the room tensed as the door swung inward. When Rumlow stepped from behind the crack in the door, they visibly relaxed.

"Rumlow, why didn't you answer your com?" Pierce asked him, irritated, "I-"

Pierce's words were interrupted by the sound the gunshots made when Rumlow calmly drew his sidearm to shoot the two guards in the forehead. Pierce flinched when flecks of blood and gore spattered his cheek and suit jacket. He backed away farther into the room when the large group of previously loyal STRIKE agents entered with their guns trained on him.

"What's the meaning of this?" Pierce demanded, even as he raised his hands at Rumlow's urging. He gazed toward the tall man who strode into the room, the agents parting to make a path for his entry. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"I am Loki, of Asgard," the man informed him. "And your subordinates are now under my command." He gestured toward the scientists with an elegant hand, and Rollins and other STRIKE members moved forward to grasp them, hauling them toward Loki. "And all of you will be as well," he promised the scientists, placing his staff against each of their chests in turn.

"An Asgardian?" Pierce echoed. His mind raced to try to find a way to gain an advantage. "Regardless of where you're from, you won't-"

"And here is the man of the hour, the real prize to be claimed during this excursion," Loki said with a grin, ignoring Pierce's words as he stalked toward the alarmed and struggling man bound in the chair. Loki's face was a mask of pitying concern as he extended a hand toward the Winter Soldier. "Be not afraid," Loki said, prowling slowly closer. "I'll not harm you." When he was within reach, he stroked the brunet's hair with his free hand while the other man jerked away from his touch. "I'm not like him," Loki told him, referring to Pierce. His hand slid down his neck to his heaving chest. "I treat well the things that belong to me."

At the Asset's silent and wary regard of him, Loki continued. "I didn't even need HYDRA's minion to tell me what you've suffered. I can see all that and more in your haunted eyes." Loki carded through the man's long hair despite how he tried to pull away. "The years of despair and uncertainty are written across your features. But all that has finally come to an end."

Loki's hand fisted in the Asset's hair as he pressed the tip of his staff to the center of the Soldier's chest. He watched eagerly while black tendrils moved under the man's skin and up his throat as he whined, shifting uncomfortably against his restraints. "I've come to set you free and deliver you to your true purpose," Loki assured him as a sense of peace stole over his form after the initial struggle, his body stilling in the barbaric chair.

Loki waved a hand over him, and the bindings that secured the Asset opened with a loud metallic snap. The Soldier stood in one smooth and graceful movement that Loki watched with interest. The man's intense, bright blue gaze was fixed on his new leader's face as he stepped forward.

"You see," Loki said, splaying his free hand as if in demonstration. "There will be no more pain, no more confusion, as long as you follow me." Loki turned toward the others under his control and was met with dozens of thankful, happy eyes. "The tasks we must accomplish are numerous. But with so many skilled warriors and learned men and women under my command, I'm sure we will manage it." His subjects all nodded their agreement with their new king, their god, who smiled upon their eager faces, filling their hearts with joy.

"You won't get away with this," Pierce assured the stranger. "HYDRA will not stand for your theft of its resources or the Asset. You have no idea how powerful-"

"That arm of yours is lovely," Loki told the Soldier as though Pierce hadn't spoken. He reached out to stroke the shiny metal limb, elegant yet strong fingers trailing into the groves on its surface. He watched how his touch caused the metal plates under his fingertips to shift against each other. "I would love to see you demonstrate what it can do." He gestured toward Pierce. "He is of no value to me. All the information that I require is in the minds of these scientists and on these devices. Deal with him for me."

"Understood," the Winter Soldier told Loki. Pierce backed away as the man stalked toward him with nowhere to flee, making protests and demands of the Asset that fell on deaf ears. He grabbed Pierce by the throat with his metal hand, raising him above the ground a few inches. Pierce's feet kicked uselessly while he gurgled. He scraped and pulled at the metal fingers and their choking grip to no avail. The Asset's arm whirred before the crunch of bone echoed in the room. The Soldier dropped Pierce's lifeless form to crumple into a heap on the floor, forgotten as he gazed over at his new master's tall and imposing form.

"Impressive," Loki praised, stepping closer. He pushed the long hair out of the Soldier's handsome face, cupping his cheek. Familiarity nagged at the corners of Loki's mind as his eyes scanned the man's face. "I've seen this face before," Loki said before recognition sparked in his eyes. He had an eidetic memory, and it was never wrong. This was the face of the man he'd seen in the file Barton had showed him about Steve Rogers, the man out of time, hero of the country in which Loki found himself. The then short-haired brunet had stared at Rogers with the same worshipful expression in the picture he'd seen as was trained on Loki now.

"I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, Sergeant Barnes," Loki told him. He stroked a thumb across the man's rosy lower lip. "When he sees what was done to you, the depths of your suffering that his new masters allowed over these long years, it will break your captain's precious heart." Canting his head to one side while gazing at the Asset's worshipful expression, Loki's mouth twisted into a face-splitting grin.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

With driven expressions on their faces, the scientists began to pack up the equipment in the room that seemed as though it would be of use to their new king. Assistants rolled the carts of electronics out of the room toward the elevator to the upper level as soon as the scientists loaded them, pushing them in the direction of the vehicles waiting behind the building. In the bustle to and fro, none of the room's occupants seemed to notice Pierce's body as it leaned against the heap of corpses that was once the security detail in the corner of the room. If they had, someone might have commented on the way that his lifeless eyes seemed to stare at the activity in the room, head lolling on his shoulders at an awkward angle. His mouth was open as if in a final, silent protest of the theft of HYDRA's resources by the usurping god.

Loki sat in a chair off to one side of the room, his eyes flicking across the surface of a tablet as he quickly read the contents on the screen before swiping toward another. He gazed up from what he read to watch as some of the members of STRIKE helped the Winter Soldier into his gear. After the man shrugged on his Kevlar-lined leather top, they fastened its straps around his body as Barnes positioned himself obligingly. Loki smiled faintly to himself, amused. He was reminded of how similar the scene appeared to the memory he held of shield maidens helping Odin's warriors into their armor. He'd often witnessed this as a child, before they were soon afterward off to quell unrest in whatever part of the Nine Realms that Odin saw fit to intervene in. But Loki's most valuable human warrior wasn't being prepared to put a stop to chaos, but to sow it, and by doing so, enable his king to conquer this world.

Loki's eyes fell back to the tablet where he poured over the numerous years of data that HYDRA possessed on 'the Asset,' the dehumanizing title the organization had given to Barnes. Loki thought that the moniker 'Winter Soldier' suited the man more closely. He could almost picture how Barnes' body must have looked after it landed amidst the drifting snow, his arm sheared off by being dashed against the ravine's rocky surface. Of how he must have bled into the crisp white snow as he clung impossibly to life before he was captured once more by the human scientist known as Zola. The small human had theorized that the soldier's brush with death had somehow shifted into full gear the transformative process that had been initiated on Barnes while he was a prisoner of war.

A human born anew upon a barren landscape and transformed into a pawn of his enemies, Loki mused before frowning, his mouth twisting in distaste. The train of thought led him toward the vision of a bleak and sunless world, its huge and savage inhabitants seemingly made of the same stuff as the realm's unyielding mountains. And to one of Odin claiming yet another of his many trophies from an altar in the center of a ruined temple. Loki's hands gripped the sides of the tablet, the material the item was composed of creaking. Such a place should have never existed, wouldn't have continued to exist, if Thor hadn't- Loki huffed loud enough that those nearby turned in his direction to see what had angered their king. It wouldn't do to contemplate his past failures and become distracted. This time he would succeed, and none would stand in his way, not his brot- Odin's son, and not SHIELD's group of supposedly powerful humans. Loki smiled. His soldier would help him take care of that annoyance.

Rising smoothly from his seat, Loki placed the tablet onto its surface. He strode toward the man in question, leather garment flowing out from his body. As he approached, Barnes' eyes were only for him, tracking his king's movements with an intense and expectant expression.

"Your situation touches me deeply, Sergeant Barnes," Loki told him as he neared, the STRIKE agents moving aside in reverence to make way for their king. "I've read of the myriad of nearly impossible things that you have accomplished over these many years for HYDRA, yet your reward was to be treated so ill by them. Your many efforts have gone unappreciated by those who lack your skill," Loki told him. "I know this feeling well, Winter Soldier."

Loki canted his head to one side, rolling an idea over in his mind before coming to a decision. "Odin wouldn't seem nearly as great sitting upon his golden throne if not for his generals, who he often sent off into the Nine Realms to do his bidding. So then, I too would need such a person if I am to govern this world properly." A hint of a smile pulled at the corners of his lips. He placed a hand on Barnes' flesh and blood shoulder to squeeze firmly. "I can think of no other who would be worthy to lead my human army but one with your strength and ingenuity. Consider it a reward for your long period of service to those unworthy to possess you.” He sidled closer, fixing Barnes with an intense stare. “Long after we've tamed this world, your people will sing of how well you served at my side, for all the years of my unending reign. Is such praise not something you've always desired?"

"Something I desire?" Barnes echoed in a curious voice as he cast his eyes to the side. The man behaved as though this was a new concept for him.

"Yes," Loki assured. "Your previous masters allowed you no such consideration, but I am not as brutish as them. As long as your first desire is to serve me, I'll allow you others." Barnes' eyes returned to his king's as he nodded, a muted but eager expression hovering over his face.

Loki stepped backward a few paces, raising his splayed hands as he tilted his chin upward. “And now, you will lead your men to the SHIELD base that I was told of by your subordinates. The flying machines there will be of use for moving our forces about. And the survivors should make acceptable additions to my army's number.”

The Winter Soldier nodded, his face settling into an expression of determination. Rumlow moved forward, the rigid mask that the Soldier usually wore held between his hands. When Loki realized the human's intentions, he made a disagreeing sound.

“Oh no, none of that,” Loki told Rumlow as he raised a hand to press down on the human's wrist, lowering the mask. “There's no need to mar such beauty and grace with a muzzle as distasteful as that.”

“But we were always told that it was necessary for his anonymity,” Rumlow explained. “Won't he be recognized?”

Loki gazed into his eyes, his grin widening almost impossibly. “Oh, I'm counting on it.”

 

Striding into the helicarrier with the wind at their backs, Natasha hovered behind the trio ahead of her to walk in step beside Coulson as Fury gave Steve Rogers and Dr. Banner a brief tour of the facilities inside the massive aircraft. She smirked to herself at the obvious pleasure on Fury's face at the sight of Rogers' awe of the technology that surrounded them as they passed through the various areas. Natasha couldn't help but feel some degree of sympathy for the man. It was hard for her to imagine coming from an era so far removed from the one they were in and being thrust abruptly into a future she was sure Rogers had never imagined. How he managed to cope was beyond her, so she had to give him credit for it. When they reached the lab, Banner excused himself from the group to further examine the equipment there, eager to get started with his work. Fury left him to it, leading the rest toward the aircraft's heart.

It wasn't long before the group reached the command center of the helicarrier. As Fury pointed out a piece of technology to Rogers, Natasha couldn't fail to notice Coulson's rapt expression as he gazed at his idol. A faint smile hovered on her lips. It was almost endearing, as much as someone like her could find something endearing. She realized that there were those who needed their heroes, who were able to accomplish their goals because of them. But Natasha believed in heroes about as much as she believed in deities. She'd seen too much, done too much, already in her life to put stock in either.

Natasha gazed over in the direction of where Agent Hill was discussing something with a subordinate who was showing the woman information on a screen that she frowned at. Her back was a line of tension as she stiffened. Hill pivoted on her heel to head swiftly over toward the group when she realized that Fury had entered the room. Fury paused mid-sentence as he noticed the grim expression his second in command wore on her approach.

“Hill?” he asked as she neared, aware that he wasn't going to like whatever information she needed to impart to him. “Has there been a development?”

“Director Fury, our base in Nevada was hit a short time ago,” she informed him. “Forces there radioed for assistance, but contact was abruptly lost with them shortly afterward. Air support is en route, but it may already be too late for them.”

Fury's mouth pressed into a line. “Do we have eyes on that area now? Was it Loki?”

“Before contact was lost, the security team on the base reported that they were being attacked by other SHIELD agents,” Maria told him. She led him over toward a console, the subordinate there moving aside for his superiors. “The surveillance drones on base were destroyed soon afterward, likely by the enemy, but the footage from such devices is automatically uploaded to SHIELD's servers according to protocol,” Hill explained. Her hands danced over the keys of the terminal, before windows came up showing the video from the four drones that had been operational on and above the base at the time of the attack. “This should tell us more about what we're up against.”

Video from one of the devices showed a group of vehicles approaching the base, incendiary rounds from the jeeps in front decimating the gate and those who had guarded it. The vehicles spilled inside, and out of one of them exited a tall man looking obviously out of place in green and black clothing, adorned in golden armor.

“That him?” Rogers asked.

“Yeah, that's him,” Fury answered with obvious distaste. “I'm getting tired of this guy compromising my men.”

Hill frowned as she observed several of the armored trucks. "Those are STRIKE vehicles," she noted grimly, watching several agents exit one of them along with a long-haired man that she didn't recognize. His face was obscured by how the breeze tossed his hair as he turned away from the camera.

"What's STRIKE?" Steve asked.

Coulson filled him in. "It's an elite force of hand-picked agents who work for SHIELD that have a heavy military background." Coulson frowned as he watched the once loyal group follow the leather-clad man in a loose formation, assault rifles at the ready. They fired upon the other SHIELD agents a distance away before a group of them took aim at the approaching vehicles that screeched toward them from another part of the base. One of the trucks veered off course when it was hit, crashing into the side of the building before most of the occupants could escape. "When we need something done, they're our go-to guys. Loki compromising them is more than just a little problematic, since- whoa!" Coulson exclaimed as he watched the long-haired brunet rush forward and flip sidelong onto the hood of a vehicle. He ripped off the driver side door before flinging the unfortunate driver out who was subsequently mowed down by a vehicle pulling up the rear. "Who the hell is he, and where did he get a metal arm like that? Gives Stark tech a run for its money."

"Metal arm?" Natasha remarked, frowning as she angled for a better view of the screen. She watched as the man fought the agents that poured out of the other vehicles with his back to the surveillance drone, plowing through well-trained SHIELD agents as though they were a bunch of amateurs with brisk and fatal efficiency. "The Winter Soldier," she breathed, her face unreadable as she gazed at his form.

"The Winter Soldier?" Steve asked, now feeling far too out of the loop.

"He's practically a ghost story," Natasha began, her eyes locked on the screen. "He's a master assassin credited with dozens of kills over the past fifty years, and suspected of even more."

"That's not possible," Hill remarked. "He'd be ancient by now. He certainly wouldn't be able to move like that." She gestured at the view of him launching himself airborne and twisting out of the path of weapons fire from SHIELD agents who'd taken refuge behind an overturned vehicle.

"I didn't believe he existed either," Natasha told her, the light from the console playing over her features as she watched. "Just thought he was a cover story for the real group responsible, until I saw the kinds of things he could do with my own eyes. Until he shot through me to get at who I was charged with protecting like I was a piece of meat." Her hand absently touched the wound he'd left her through her clothing, a constant reminder of a situation where her many skills had almost failed her.

"If he's such a ghost, then how did Loki manage to find him? And why is an elite assassin in the company of SHIELD's best agents to start with?" Rogers asked, his eyes sidling toward Fury as he turned to gaze at him sidelong.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Fury told him. "Is there something you're trying to imply here, Rogers? It's not like we'd have someone like him on our payroll."

While Fury and Rogers had a not-so-friendly discussion behind them, Coulson, Hill, and Natasha continued to watch the recorded footage from the surveillance drones. Fires burned in the background from incendiary grenades that had been set off as well as from destroyed vehicles. Footage from a different drone showed Loki as he gleefully destroyed parts of the base with the energy from his staff. The trio stared in disbelief at how the agents protecting the base had fallen so easily, and how much of that was from the efforts of one impossible man. The Winter Soldier stood amidst the carnage, his back to the camera as the drone hovered somewhere overhead. STRIKE agents rounded up survivors in the background, herding them off-screen. Loki strode up to the leather-clad man proudly in his full regalia to place a hand onto his flesh and blood shoulder. Smiling, he urged the Soldier to turn around, pointing with an outstretched hand in the direction of where the surveillance drone hung in the air above. While wearing an amused expression, Loki gave a mock salute before destroying the drone with a burst of energy from his staff.

"He's playing with us," Maria noted, shaking her head. "He could have destroyed the drones at any time to conceal what he was up to. He wanted us to see what his little army can accomplish."

"To throw us off our game," Natasha surmised. "To show us how with the Winter Soldier as one of his minions, he can decimate a whole base. To demoralize us." Her face took on a steely expression. "It won't work."

Hill gazed at Coulson, whose face was a mask of disbelief while he rewound the footage slowly to the point before Loki destroyed the drone. He froze it on the image of the Winter Soldier standing next to Loki and staring in the direction of where the other man pointed. "Phil, what's wrong?"

Coulson enlarged the image, and his face drained of the rest of its color. "Oh my God," he breathed.

"What's wrong?" Rogers said as he approached, drawn out of his disagreement with Fury by the tone of the man's voice. Maria couldn't help but notice how Coulson seemed to position his body in such a way to obscure the screen from Rogers. Noticing the movement, Steve's expression became suspicious. “Coulson?”

"I don't know what I can say to prepare you for this," Phil told him honestly, his expression pained. "I don't even know how it could be possible."

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked him, confused. "What do you need to... prepare me for?" he trailed off as he managed to gaze over Phil's shoulder at the screen. He nudged past him to stand before the console with widening eyes, his jaw becoming slack. Steve pressed the play button on the touch screen, and watched Loki give him, because it _had_ to be for him, a little salute while the man leaned far too close toward someone Steve would recognize anywhere. Steve could never forget the man's warm and smiling face from happier times that was etched into his memory. Nor the one of dawning horror that haunted Steve's dreams as gravity pulled the man beyond the safety of his reach and into the frigid winter air.

The concerned voices of those around him fell on deaf ears as Steve stared wordlessly at the screen, his world narrowing to the truth of what was displayed on the console. His throat worked to swallow around something that had lodged itself there. "Bucky?" Steve managed to utter finally in disbelief, almost as much horror as hope lacing his voice.

 

 


End file.
